


Time is no barrier

by Bbryan



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: Adventure, F/M, Love, Original Story - Freeform, Science Fiction, Time - Freeform, Time Travel, space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 17:38:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6620020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bbryan/pseuds/Bbryan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bryan, a married man living in the 26th century, losses his wife to a mysterious beam of light. He then learns she's still alive but has been sent to a different time. He makes it his mission to bring her back, by any means necessary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I've been inspired by multiple sources, the intro to Star Trek made in 2009 where Kirks father crashes the USS Kelvin into the Romulan ship to save 800 lives, his wife, and the unborn James T. Kirk, I've also taken ideas from Enders Game, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, real world physics, and I've decided on formatting this story as D.J. MacHale did in his Pendragon series.

Hello, my name is Bryan. I was born in the year 2563 by Earth's old calendar. The current calendar is too complicated to explain right now, I just need to get out the generic stuff. By my time, Earth had become a single society, no Countries, No States, no Sovereign Nations, just Earth. The main issues of the 21st century had long been solved. Pollution was non existent, Global warming was now controlled, energy was free and readily accessible anywhere, Racism was nothing more than a distant memory, old rivalries between countries diffused. If a man living in the 21st century had the opportunity to see my Earth, he'd call it a utopia. We aren't without our issues though. Space is now the World’s ambition; going to new Worlds and making them habitable. Terraforming and Interstellar travel is as common as seeing a car in the streets of Manhattan during the early 21st century. There are Earth colonies as far away as Gliese 581-d, 20.4 light years away from Earth, and as many as 12 colonies spread along that distance. As you might expect Humanity has made enormous leaps and bounds technologically wise, and emotionally wise. Oh! And the question most prevalent on astronomers minds during the 21st century was answered over 300 years before I was born. We are not alone, by any means. That's where Humanities issues come in. Earth has several treaties with 5 out of the 8 Alien species discovered since 2241, all of them extremely fragile. There's an agreed upon ceasefire between all 9 races of intelligent being. For a time it seemed everything was at peace. You may have noticed I keep mentioning the 21st century and the issues surrounding that time period. I'll tell you why. I traveled back to the year 2023, in search of my wife, Ann. We were married in 2586. I was 23 and Ann was 24, but only by a few months. Anyway before I dive right into why I've traveled back through time I need to give some background, actually a lot of background.

In my time there is a program most everyone joins, the Space Commission. There are two branches of the Space Commission, exploration and military. The military branch is very small and stays within 1 light year of Earth at all times unless ordered otherwise. The entire military branch is made up of only 400 warships that are expertly hidden among the dormant comets of the Kuiper belt to avoid detection. They may be few in number but trust me these warships could take out Mercury if they set their Particle rifles and Antimatter torpedoes to it. Now the exploration branch is made up of several thousand ships. If memory serves me right the number is close to 2500. That's just a guess. Manufacturing became so much easier once Zero gravity construction techniques and Artificial gravity were perfected in the late 24th century. By the time I left my Earth, construction crews were so massive and efficient they could construct a ship the size of the Hawaiian island chain in less than a week. I joined the Space Commision when I turned 18 in 2581, all I'd ever dreamed about doing was exploring the infinite unknown and learning about each and every wonder within it. I worked extremely hard, to get a post on most any ship you had to be valedictorian at least once prior to and during the Academy training. Luckily I did both and was posted as a Lieutenant to the Enterprise. A direct descendant from the Enterprise aircraft carrier of the 21st century. There's even a plaque on the bridge of the 26th century Enterprise that was made from the same steel being used onboard the 21st century Enterprise. Cool right? The first time I saw that plaque I revered it as a sacred object. The literal past tied to its distant future. It's an amazing prospect. We went on dozens of missions around the Terran system, there was even an experiment to create a wormhole not 2 lightyears from Earth. However the experiment failed due to unforeseen quantum fluctuations in the region. On a few of my missions I met the other intelligible species. Mostly in conferences between Captains of ships passing by. Since I was a Lieutenant I was sometimes called to give my Captain reports while he was convening with another inhuman Captain. Now I met Ann in 2583 on a visit to Mons City. The largest city on Mars. Now having seen firsthand what the status of possible Mars colonization in the 21st century, I have a higher appreciation of the Red planet now. Ann was in full hospital gown and on break. She was getting coffee for her superiors in the courtyard overlooking Valles Marineris. It's a breathtaking site, I highly recommend you go see it… In about 250 years. I didn't even realize she was there until she tapped my shoulder and asked if she could sit with me. 

“Do you mind if I sit here?” I turned toward her and lifted my brow.

“No please, go right ahead.” I gestured to the seat next to me. She sat down and rubbed at her eyes. “Tough day?”

“Yeah, my superiors keep paging me for coffee and food in the middle of checkups and tests.”

“My superiors ask me for 3 reports every 9 hours, mostly on data they didn't want to look into. Every now and then I find something interesting but most of the time it's junk.”

“Does that mean you're in the military?”

“No, Exploration.” I sipped on my coffee and looked out at the canyon ahead. “This is the largest of 23 canyons I've seen on 8 different planets.”

“Cool, this is the largest of two canyons I've seen. This one and the Grand Canyon on Earth.” She stretched over the back of her chair and yawned.

“I haven't been on Earth since I got my commision two years ago, when did you leave Earth?”

“4 months ago, I hate space travel. It's so dangerous. But I had to come out here, the Health Committee posted me here against my wishes.”

“It's not that dangerous anymore, compared to ancient chemical rockets they're a dream come true.”

“Still though, one crack in the hull and you slowly die.”

“True enough.” I took a deep breath. “It's still breathtaking to see what's out there.”

“Well you sir can have fun doing what you do, I will have fun doing what I do.” She smiled. “Hey what's your name?”

“Bryan, and you?” 

“Ann.” I smiled and reached over to shake her hand. 

“Nice to meet you Ann.” 

“Good to meet you too Bryan.” She smiled back at me.

“Maybe we should meet for coffee sometime and see how our jobs compare with each other. I've got some sure leave coming up.”

“Uh.. Sure I guess… why not? I've got a week or so off here pretty soon.” She laughed a little.

“Then it's settled. I'll need your contact info so I can send you a message when I'm back on Mars.” That's how our relationship started, just two people who weren't expecting to find their soulmate. That week we spent together was fantastic, we climbed a wall of the Valles Marineris, and rappelled down the cliffs of Olympus Mons. Trust me, that's more difficult than anything on Earth. 25.75 kilometers down a mountain and 7 up a canyon. Try doing that on your first date. After my sure leave ended, Ann and I scheduled to get back together on my next sure leave. It took almost a year before we got back together. This time I managed to convince her to come see the ship, it took a long time to convince her I was a good enough pilot to make sure neither one of us died during the transit. 

“Hey hey take deep breathes, the transition from atmosphere to vacuum is always a little bumpy with high powered plasma engines.”

“I know I know I know. I just really hate space travel.” She was squirming in her seat.

“Trust me I remember.” I smirked. 

“What are you smirking about??” She smiled a little and smacked my bicep.

“You.” I smiled. “E.T.A. to the Enterprise, 1 minute.” 

“Can't this thing get us there faster? I just want this ride over with.”

“It could but I'd be breaking the law.” I laughed. “I'd be court martialed if I broke the law inside Terran space.” She took a deep breathe and let it out slow.

“I know I know, sorry.” She rubbed at her temple.

“It's alright.” I smiled, and I selected the comms and hailed the Enterprise. “Enterprise this is shuttle 7 asking permission to dock.” I was granted permission to dock and was extremely careful to set the shuttle down softly. The docking bay was repressurized and we were clear to leave the shuttle. “Feel better now that we're on the ground?” I got up and opened the door for her, gesturing for her to leave first. 

“More or less, full artificial gravity is an odd feeling… I'm much more used to Mars’ partially artificial gravity.” She wobbled a little getting out of the shuttle but stayed upright.

“It is true it does take a while to get used to it.” I left the shuttle and the door closed behind us. “Welcome to the USS Enterprise J. Shall we off to my quarters?” I held my arm out for her to grab. 

“You're so weird.” She smirked and grabbed a hold of my arm. 

“That I am.” I smiled and started to lead her to my quarters.

“So what deck are your quarters on?” She rubbed at her temples a little. 

“8.”

“What deck are we on now?”

“4.” I chuckled and the elevator door opened for us. 

“Ugh, elevators… Is this going to be disorienting for me?”

“Elevators? In full artificial gravity? Hehe no not at all.” She smacked my arm again. I told the elevator to descend to deck 8. It slowly sped up and slowed down to a gentle stop at deck 8.

“Alright that wasn't as bad as I thought. Now, take me to your quarters hotshot.” She smiled and giggled a little.

“Tis my pleasure madam.” I laughed and turned right down the main hall towards my quarters. We stopped at the door and it opened after a retinal scan. I gestured for Ann to enter first and she did, after I stepped in with her the door closed. 

“Jesus it's cold in here.” She shivered and rubbed at her arms. “Can you turn the heat up?” 

“Yeah I can.” I asked the computer to increase the heat. She took a deep breath and let go of her arms. 

“Much better.” She smiled. “It's kinda Spartan in here.” I didn't keep much in my quarters, my bed, a couch, a coffee table, the pre installed sink with the basic necessities. “Could definitely use a woman's touch.” She giggled and sat on the couch. 

“Well you're welcome to use your feminine touch on anything here.” I laughed and approached a food replicator directly beside the couch, I had the couch there so I could get coffee with minimal effort. I ordered my usual cup and started sipping. “Would you like anything?”

“I don't like coffee, can I just have a water?” I asked the computer to make a cup and I handed the product and she sipped it gladly. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” We sat there and enjoyed each other's company for hours. Talking about what's happened over the last year in our lives. She told me she'd been promoted and was now a full time doctor at Marineris Hospital, just on the outskirts of Mons city closest to Valles Marineris. She told me about all the odd cases she got to work on now that she was a full time doctor. One she had just last week sounded excruciatingly painful. A man was flown in from an irrigation canal underneath the southern polar ice cap. There'd been a rupture in one of the flow regulators in the tunnel he was working in. The rupture had caused the tunnel to collapse on top of him, which at the same time caused frozen CO2 above the tunnel to fall into the tunnel. The shrapnel from the tunnel had impaled the poor man in 4 different places, and the dry ice that'd come crashing down had frozen the metal to his flesh, while also slowly freezing him to death. By the time rescuers had burrowed down through the rubble he was almost dead already. The frozen metal impaling him had caused 3rd degree frostbite in his torso, his hands and feet were frozen to the point where the shifting rubble had snapped off his fingers and toes. They flew him into the hospital and Ann told me it took them 28 hours to thaw him out, remove the shrapnel, stop the bleeding, and regenerate the nearly dead tissue. They only had to amputate his left foot. Amputation in and of itself was almost never practiced, most injuries that'd previously needed amputation were easily correctable with our technology and advancements in medicine.

 

 

(This is a section I'm working on)

 

Several years later

 

Time is physical. It can be manipulated, hastened, slowed, and reversed. Time was added to the fundamental forces of nature in 2233. In all there are now, or actually will be, five fundamental forces of nature. Gravity, Strong force, Weak force, Electromagnetism, and Time. Time and Gravity are the most prevalent forces in nature. When Albert Einstein’s theory of General Relativity was compounded by the discovery of Gravitational Waves in February of 2016, Gravitons were on scientists minds. Gravitons are the particle that carry the force of Gravity, akin to a Photon carrying electromagnetism or light. After Gravitons were discovered in 2090, scientists went on to other particles that'd been theorized but never proven. Tachyons, particles that exist and travel only faster than the speed of light, were one of the many to follow. Dark Matter following closely after Tachyons. Then finally Chronotons. The particle that carried the force of Time. The particle itself acts like the Higgs Boson and even has its own field that penetrates all of space. When you have a Chronoton, time travel becomes possible. Forwards, backwards, freezing time, it all becomes possible. They are what caused Ann to vanish in front of me. 

We were on a routine trip to an earth colony 13.5 lightyears from Earth. They'd run low of water cleansing supplies and still didn't have the capacity to produce it themselves. I was on the bridge as we approached Sari, the planet hosting the colony. We found nothing. Our comms officer told us there was no electromagnetic signals being emitted intelligently from the planet. As we passed over the colonial site we had an image brought up on the monitor. We saw desolation. It looked like someone had set off nuclear bombs all over the area. The colony had been destroyed. 

“By God…” Caption Wesson stood up slowly, his jaw dropped along with everyone else's. 

“Who could have done this?” I asked. We soon got our answer. Suddenly the ship jolted to its side and we were thrown. I slammed into a titanium beam beside me. I slowly got up, my shoulder aching from taking the impact. “What happened??” 

“Prathons! Their warship was hiding in a Lagrange point between the planets moons!” The tactical officer was coming to his feet. 

“Well lock Torpedoes Jered! Fire!” The captain yelled in panic. He was stumbling to his feet.

“Firing!” Jered fired 4 torpedoes and each were vaporized by some kind of beam. I watched them vanish and felt panic rise within me. 

“Those torpedoes are top of the line… Best shielding yet… What could have done that??” 

“Sir they've locked on us!! I'm firing particle rifles alongside torpedoes trajectories.” 

“Evasive maneuvers! Pattern Gamma X Y, ensign now!!” The young man posted to maneuver was already dead. The force of the first impact had snapped his neck. I pulled his corpse from the chair and entered the course corrections myself. The Captain was helping another officer lock onto the Prathons while I tried to stay out of their visual range. We were hit by another beam, similar to the beam that vaporized the torpedoes. I was flung from my chair and into the opposite wall. The Captain ran over to make sure I was alright. 

“Bryan, the ship is already coming apart. I'm ordering evacuation if things don't get better. Your back alright?”

“My heads buzzing and I'm in pain but otherwise I'm fine. You have to maneuver the ship, I can't get up.” 

“Bullshit come on.” He grabbed my arms and pulled me to my legs, I yelled in pain as he did. “I gotta check your back.” He looked at my back as I grunted in agony. “You're good, bruised but good.”

“Captain! They're firing again!!” Jered held onto his controls and braced for impact. I held onto the wall and the Captain held onto a nearby beam. 

“Casualties!” The captain called out.

“We have 38 confirmed casualties so far Captain, no damage to crew quarters however the majority of casualties are being reported there. Multiple Prathon beam hits in that area but no visible damage sir, Ii don't know what to make of it.” He furiously tapped buttons to fire back as he checked ship reports. 

“Keep firing! Bryan go get your wife and get out.” I looked at him astonished.

“Sir you haven't ordered eva-” 

“That's an order!! Go!!!” He threw me through a door and went right back to ship controls. I pushed past a dozen or so officers as I descended three decks to the medbay. I looked down the hallway and saw Ann just inside the medbay, she saw me and started to run toward me. I was running toward her, the ship was being torn apart by the Prathons warship. They fired their beam at the ship, Ann caught the edge of it, but just barely. The beam vanished and I made it to her. I was sobbing in relief. She held me as tight as she could but her grip loosened. I looked down at her, and through her. She was becoming transparent before me. 

“Bbryan?? Wwhats happening to me?!” She screamed in fear and tried to hold onto me tighter. I screamed at the top of my lungs, I felt more terror than I'd ever felt before. The woman I loved was disappearing before me and I couldn't stop it. Her screams faded but her image was still, but just barely, visible. 

“Ann!! Ann no!!! Noooo!! I’ll bring you back I promise!!” Then her image vanished and my tight grip failed. My hands flung past each other as I tried to grab onto a body that wasn't there. I felt panic, sadness, anger, loss, confusion, I was aching with emotion. I sat there, balling my eyes out for an hour. The firing ceased, the ship creaked to a halt. I was still balling and held my arms across my chest, pretending Ann was still there. An officer came up to me from behind.

“Hey… Commander?” I breathed in spasms, rapidly inhaling and exhaled, trying to calm down.

“Yyes?” I didn't look up at him, I just balled my fists tighter.

“The battle… We-”

“The battle iis over… The sship is in pieces… the Ccaptain needs me… Mmy wife…” I relaxed my arms and looked at my hands as they slowly relaxed. “Mmy Wwife just vvanished in front of me…” I saw the tears drip from my eyes and fall onto my hands. “Wwha… what kind of weapon can do that??” My fists balled up again tighter and I punched the titanium floor over and over until my knuckles bled. I wore myself out before the lieutenant crouched in front of me. 

“Sir… I'm not sure what just happened to your wife… Or what that weapon was they used… But from what our sensors tell us they're… Non damaging to inorganic material, nothing the beams touched was damaged unless it was organic. If it was organic it vanished.” I felt no comfort in his words, my wife just vanished and he was using technical terms. 

“Wwhat did the beams cconsist of?”

“Sensors recorded what the particles were, but could only identify them as Chronotons.” I furrowed my brow and looked up at him confused.

“Tthat weapon was pure ttime?”

“The computer seems to think so.” He held his hand on my shoulder. “Sir… If the computer is right… Your wife may still be alive somewhere…” Those words were the ones to bring me hope. 

“Aanns alive…” I felt a smile pull on my face, I could fulfill my promise to her before she disappeared. “Sshe’s alive somewhere… No not where… When…” I slowly got to my knees and took a few deep breathes. “I will find her, anywhere. If she's been sent through time then I'll have to travel through it to find her.” 

“Ssir… Time travel… Is dangerous… You can't just waltz through time looking for someone.” 

“Lieutenant…” I set my hands on his shoulders. “I just watched the woman I love, vanish.” I could feel anger bubble in my belly. My grip got tighter.” She screamed in fear. I screamed in fear.” My grip tightened again and he flinched a bit. “She's been forced through time. I. Will. Not. Rest. Until. I. Have. Her. Back.” 

“Ah ah yyes sir yes ahhhh can you llet go??” He was shriveling up, trying to free himself.

“Sorry.” I released his shoulders and he took a deep breathe of relief. “My next stop is Earth. I will find her.”

 

Unfortunately at the time, traveling through time was illegal. The 9 intelligible species had a pact never to travel through time, so as not to pollute the timeline and change how history has or will unfold. Even finding a Chronoton expert, let alone an engineer who's trained in and is crazy enough to actually build the machine, is nearly impossible. In all there are 5 Chronoton specialists, with a population of 50 billion humans spread across a sphere with a radius of 25 lightyears. It took weeks to get ourselves patched up enough to warp home. As the ship creaked to a halt in orbit around Mars, I tried to put grief out of my mind. Mons City was just coming into view on the monitor. I wanted to cry at the sight. Here I was returning to the place where she and I began, without her. It felt like I'd lied to her. I promised her so many times that nothing would happen to her and that we'd always come back to Mars together. For all I knew she was somewhen and somewhere very far from here. I asked Captain Wesson for an extended personal leave on Earth, it didn't take much convincing to get his permission. He could tell I was both on a mission, and running from a huge source of grief. I hitched a ride on one of the Enterprises shuttles to Earth and just stood there in the docking bay for a second. I needed to take it all in. Clean air, natural gravity, new people, and the hub for every human experiment conducted with Time. I made my way off of the landing platform and found the dock master. He turned out to be an academy pal of mine who'd been at Ann and I’s wedding. 

“Bryan! How's it hanging buddy? Haven't seen you since the big day! What was that? 3 years ago?”

“3 and a half, good to see you too Jason.” I smirked and hugged the man.

“So where's Ann? You two going on sure leave in Tokyo?” He was right to ask that, Ann and I had been to Tokyo for our 2 year anniversary. 

“No… No sure leave…. No Tokyo… And…” I had to stop myself and take a deep breath before I continued. Jason looked increasingly confused. “And no Ann.”

“Well Jesus… Did… Did something happen to her? Is she gonna be alright?” He set a hand on my shoulder to try and comfort me. 

“Yes… Something happened… And yes… She's going to be alright.” Flashes of Ann disappearing in front of me flashed through my mind. It lit a fire in my belly. “Listen Jason… You're my friend right? You'd do anything for me if it were for a good cause?” 

“Yeah Bryan… Of course man.” 

“Alright….” I looked around to be sure no one was watching us. I whispered to him. “I need to find someone who knows how to build a time machine.” He jumped back in astonishment, surprise oozed from him.

“What?! Why on gods green Earth would you want someone who can build that?!” I pushed him against the wall and shushed him. 

“If you don't shut up and listen good I swear to god I’ll rat you out for selling Uranium to the Lunar miners.”

“I didn't sell it to them! I just… happened to receive payment for it… alright alright alright fine. Fine!” I let go of him and he straightened his uniform. “But Bryan… Why the hell do you need to travel through time?” 

“Ann isn't here, we were attacked by Prathons, sensors showed the weapons they were using were made of Chronotons, put it together yet?” His expression went from confusing to shock. 

“Bryan… I… I'm sorry I shouldnt-”

“It's fine, I'm going to bring her back come hell or high water and I need someone who can build the damn thing. Do you know anybody at all?”

“I'll… I have to make a call or two… But there's still a few problems with your plan Bryan.” 

“What's that?” 

“Well one you actually need Chronotons and the only places you can get those are in the center of black holes, or Headquarters and they for sure won't give you any to travel back and get your wife. Second, even if they do you won't have the machine with you in the past to bring you both back. It's a suicide mission.”

“Let me worry about getting back and finding Chronotons. You just find the engineer.” He sighed and rubbed at his eyes. 

“Alright, alright I'll find your damn engineer.” He patted me on the shoulder before walking toward his office, he paused just as I was about to leave. “Bryan.” I turned to answer him. “Good luck.” I smiled at him. 

“Thank you.” I made the trek from the docking bay to the nearest pod, essentially a one man private plane. I programmed it to take me to Space Command headquarters in San Francisco. The flight there took only an hour, but that's traveling faster than sound from what was Europe to what was California. The pod dropped me off and immediately headed back to its base in Europe. I took in the sight of Space Command Headquarters, I hadn't been anywhere near this building since I graduated from the academy. The tall, brightly colored building had stood strong for 300 years and wasn't about to buckle. I marched through the dozens of officers and workers pouring from the entrances of headquarters, and straight to the top floor. Where the senior council members of Space Command met. They were already deliberating the assault and what kind of action to take, it was perfect timing. I knocked on the council chamber door against the secretary's wishes. The 7 of them stopped deliberating and looked to me, after giving me a questioning look they waved me in. The transparent door slid open and I walked into the chamber, nervous about even being in the room let alone asking them for illegal material. 

“Hello council.” I gulped. “My name is Bryan Hartley, I'm second in command of the Enterprise. I just got off a transport from Mars and-”

“What are you here for Commander?” An elderly woman, probably in her 120s or 130s, spoke up. I could see the directness and give-it-to-me-straight attitude in her eyes. I immediately felt my knees rattling like jello.

“W… Well I… I need to make a request… And I know there's almost no chance of it being granted but… I have to at least try.”

“What do you mean son? What kind of request?” Another council member, an Asian man in his late 90s asked me with his hands set flat on the table. I took a long, deep shaky breath.

“I… I need… Chronotons…. Enough to travel backwards in time.” I felt the judgement ooze from all seven of them.

“Why on Earth are you asking such a thing?? Such a thing is illegal!” A man about 100 years old who sat far right of everyone else yelled at me. 

“I'll tell you why I'm even asking… But I would like to point out that the Prathons used Temporal weapons on us at Sari… That's why 300 crew members are missing and there's no hull breach.”

“Wait just one second lad, Temporal Weaponry?? Are you telling me they fired pure time at your ship that caused over 300 people to disappear without a trace?” A Scottish woman who sat just beside the elderly woman was flabbergasted. 

“The ship's sensors were only able to determine that the particles the beams consisted of were Chronotons yes… That aside… I saw firsthand what they did to the crew… What those bastards did to my wife.” I held back the tears and controlled my breathing, the images of Ann flashed through my head again. “I'm making this request… Because I saw my wife vanish in front of me.”

“That does not mean you get-” The woman in her 120s was stopped by a black man sitting center of everyone. 

“Please Nora, let the man tell us what happened. Then we can deliberate, not devalue his loss by rejecting his attempt to get back the woman he loves. Please, go on Commander.” I was relieved to hear at least one council member was listening.

“Thank you sir. Alright…” I took a very deep breath to steady myself before I began. “II may get emotional telling you all this… please bare with me. Captain Wesson had ordered me to leave the bridge and go find Ann, my wife, he was about to order full evac. I was tossed about the ship as dozens of officers scrambled to keep the ship in one piece as the Prathons kept firing on us. I finally descended three decks and ran towards medbay. The door was already held open by a doctor letting wounded in. I saw Ann working on a patient inside. She turned and caught sight of me, I could see the fear and panic in her eyes. She dropped what she was doing and we ran toward each other…” I had to stop myself, the tears were welling up again. 

“Here.” The man sitting center had gotten up and brought me a tissue. I pressed it against my eyes hard and took a second to catch my breath. 

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome, now please continue.” He sat back down and looked at me quizzically.

“We were running toward each other, people were screaming, the ship was rattling, I saw the same beam pass through the ship and envelope Ann. The beam vanished in an instant and we caught each other. We held onto each other tight and fell to the floor, the both of us sobbing with relief. Ann's grip faded and I turned t... toward her… She was ffading… I could see the floor through her. I saw more terror in her eyes than I've seen in every fresh ensign on his first mission combined. She screamed in fear and called out my name… Pleading me for an answer…. I couldn't do anything…. I yelled in fear and panic and… Then she… She just faded away completely.” I couldn't stop the tears. They were falling to the floor. “For almost an hour Ii sat there in shock… Crying… Gripping myself like I was holding her… Refusing to open my eyes and see she was gone. It took a lieutenant and a fistful of bloody knuckles to get me to even stand. Sso I'm here… Weeks later… Still aching from that loss and knowing I can do something about it. Just before she vanished entirely I screamed ‘I will bring you back, I promise.’ I need Chronotons… So I can fulfill that promise to my missing wife, who’s stranded in a different time, scared, confused, panicking, and dealing with as much loss as I am.” I took a few deep breaths to calm down and wiped at my eyes again, some of the council members were crying themselves. 

“Yyour story… Is… Heartbreaking Commander.” The elderly woman wiped at her eyes and sniffled. “I know if I went through the same thing I'd be in your position right now, asking the same thing.” 

“However.” He man sitting center stood up. “Chronotons and time travel are illegal for a reason. The Prathons will be taken care of for their serious crime. Unfortunately Commander… We cannot grant you the particles.” The rest of the council looked pathetically sympathetic. They knew they had the power and the resources to help me save my wife. I knew I wasn't going to get the Chronotons as soon as the first woman spoke. Yet I was still angry at them. 

“So… You'd rather let a criminal off with a warning then save the innocent victim.” 

“No one said that lad.”

“You don't have to.” I let the anger turn to determination, and resentment. “You've just let over 300 families know that there will be no action taken to save their sons and daughters. For that, all of you should be impeached.”

“Commander, watch it. You're treading on very. thin. ice. I suggest you leave with dignity before security makes you leave, without your rank, in disgrace.” The man at center gestured for me to leave, I wanted to make a snide comment about how for people who are supposed to embody justice and doing what's right, they certainly have a funny way of doing either of those things. I left without another word. That's when I knew I was going back completely illegally, if I was caught in the past or in the present with the temporal tech, I'd be jailed for life as either a spy, or a Traitor. Neither option is preferable, but in one way or another I’d have Ann back.


	2. Meeting the engineer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryan meets a man who will aid him significantly, with a strangely similar backstory.

I grabbed a pod and programmed it to head back to Europe. An hour later I landed and the pod returned to San Francisco. I didn't care about the dozens of people rushing to get to their shuttles before they took off to their ships in orbit. Announcements were made on departures from the dock and I ignored them all. I wasn't coming back for a very long time. I walked right up to Jason's door and pounded on it. He opened it and quickly pulled me in and slammed the door behind us, he sighed and rubbed his eyes. “You're absolutely insane you know that?”

“Did you find me an engineer or not Jason?” I was too annoyed to hear flack. 

“Yeah I found you one, not without calling in about a dozen and a half favors and nearly getting reported to Headquarters though.”

“I don't care about how hard it was to find one Jason! I jus-” I stopped myself mid sentence And took a breath to calm down. “Sorry, Headquarters just denied me access to Chronotons…”

“I told you they would Bryan.” 

“I know you did but now I need to go find someone who can get me Chronotons!” I punched Jason's wall, not caring about the aching pain from the punches I inflicted on the Enterprise being inflamed by this punch. 

“Bryan sit down.” Jason pulled me away from the wall and sat me in his desk chair. “Alright look, I found you your engineer so you can run off to whatever time to get Ann back. What kind of friend would I be if I halfassed the job?”

“What are you talking about?” I huffed and furrowed my brow at him in confusion. 

“That engineer doesn't just know how to create a time machine you doofus.”

“Are you telling me he knows how to create Chronotons?!” I jumped up out of my chair and hugged the man. “Jason you are a miracle worker! How'd you find him??”

“He's a retired engineer for Headquarters’ Time department, he basically built all of their equipment. I had a buddy of mine give me his number and I… Well I may or may not have told him what happened…” 

“And he agreed after he heard it all?” I let Jason go and looked at him, amazed at the story he was telling me.

“More or less, he said he'd definitely build the machine and give you the Chronotons, so long as you do a few favors for him while you're in the past…” Jason rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the ground. My amazement changed to annoyance and aggravation.

“What kind of ‘Favors’?” I let the harsh tone of my voice sink into him before continuing. “Did you sign me up for some geezers personal vendetta??” 

“Wwell… I had no choice man! He said if you didn't agree he'd report us both!” His arms fell to his sides and he shrugged. “You may not have a life in the Space Command when you get back but I want to keep mine, and not getting reported by an old fart will definitely make sure of that.” 

“Jason…” I took a deep breath and exhaled 3 times as slowly as the inhale. “You'd better hope there aren't many favors on his list or your ass is getting stuck in mid 20th century Germany under the alias of a Jew!” I didn't hold back the rage, I was already aching from excitement about actually being able to go back through time and save Ann. Now, however, I had a to-do list for some old engineer before I could actually get her in my arms again. 

“Christ Bryan… You are… Kidding right?” He had a genuine look of concern on his face, along with fear, astonishment, and worry. “You're not actually going to send me back there…. Right?” 

“No… No no I'm not I'm just pissed…” I sat back down and pressed my palms to my forehead, elbows on my knees. “I'm so close already… Yet so unbelievably far…”

Suddenly there was a harsh knocking on the door, Jason and I both stared at it for a second. There was another knock and a call for Jason. Jason pressed a button on the door to allow it to become a one way glass material so he could see who it was. It was an old man in casual clothing, well casual for the 26th century anyway, and he had a hefty briefcase locked to his arm. Jason opened the door for him and the man pushed himself inside quickly. 

“Goodness son, can’t you just open the door for your guest as soon as he knocks? This case does not agree well with my arthritis.” He set the case on the table and took off the electromagnetic handcuffs. 

“Arthritis? Why don't you get your cartilage regenerated?” I sat straight up int he chair and stared, puzzled. He turned toward me and gave me a ‘are-you-serious?’ look.

“Because son, old age is a privilege, as is all the ailments that go with it nowadays. Arthritis is the least I could have at 128 years of age.”

“Odd… I've never met anyone who thinks of old age as a privilege. Are you the engineer Jason called?” I got out of the chair and walked around to his front side.

“Yeah that's me, are you the poor man whose wife was sent through time?”

“That's me geezer.” 

“I'm sorry to hear about your wife, and I really am happy to help. But did uhh… Oh… Jay…. Jo…” He was snapping his fingers and clicking his teeth trying to remembers Jason's name.

“Jason.” Jason had a confounded look to him when the old man couldn't remember his name.

“Jason! Yes that's it. Did he tell you about my requirements from you when you went back?”

“Only that you had a few favors.” 

“Few isn't exactly the word I would use.” He smirked and unlocked the briefcase. He searched throu a short stack of crumpled up paper, some so old they'd turned yellow. He tossed a few out of his case while looking and I caught a glimpse of a small metallic device seated in foam. 

“Is that.. Are those…” He looked back at me and I pointed to the device I saw underneath the papers. “Is that the device??” The old man picked up what I thought was a device, it turned out to be a square container with glass sides, filled with a blue liquid that shone and changed chases of blue. 

“Son these are the Chronotons contained in a high density, supercooled, magnetic field induced state.” He chuckled and set the fluid container back in the case. “The device to travel back won't be too much bigger than the door, a little funny isn't it? Not much bigger than a regular door, but this door opens into different times. Ah ha! Found the little bugger.” He pulled out a long, thin piece of paper not much longer than a half a meter. I looked to Jason, my teeth gritting and rage clearly displayed like a circus. He shrugged and tried to look innocent enough.

“Just how many times do I have to go to to complete this list of yours before I can save my wife?”

“Oh kid no no no, you aren't doing these things for me, you're doing them for yourself see?” He turned the list toward me, rows and rows of address’, time coordinates, item names and quantities, etc. 

“What is this?” I took the list from him and started reading it.

“A list of the materials you need to build a return-door in the past, so you can get back here.” He laughed. “Did you think that you'd just get a button to press and you'd both home like that?” 

“Wait a minute, if I need to go to these timelines to get the materials to build a door home, what am I going to do to travel to these times once I leave the present?” I folded up the list and stuck it in a pocket on my torso.

“You’ll use this.” He pulled out a toroidal shaped contraption with two emitters, a screen, and a clear slot for the Chronoton casings embedded inside. 

“And just what is that going to do?” I stared at him with a puzzled look on my face.

“This, my dear unfortunate friend, is a mobile Time portal device. It can only send you a certain amount of time forwards or backwards. If your wife is say, 200 years in the past it won't work and you'll need a full sized portal to get you both back. Now if she's stuck 20 years ago then you'll be fine.”

“So that's why I need all the pieces before I try to bring us back, without a full portal we’ll both be stuck in the past.”

“Exactly son.” He set the device on the table and kept looking through his brief case. “Darn it where is it's?”

“Where is what old man?” I picked up the mobile time portal and looked over its surface, making sure not to accidentally flip it on. It was a silvery gray, flat matte kind of finish with a few areas being smooth and mirror polished. Jason went around to the old man and helped him look through his stack of papers. He found another paper that was almost yellow. The old man laid it out carefully on the table. He smacked the corner a few times, cursing at it slightly. Suddenly the face of the paper flickered to life and a faint holographic image appeared above it, the image gradually got brighter. 

“What is that?” Jason looked at the hologram quizzically, trying to dissect it in his mind. 

“This kids, is the blueprint for building a time portal. My greatest creation, and I can honestly say it is probably one of the most important inventions in human history. Right up there with the wheel, the automobile, the airplane, and the rocket.” He smiled at the image and you could see the pride in his eyes. 

“Geez, a little self serving there.” Jason scoffed at my remark and kept looking at the hologram.

“Bryan if you intend on traveling through time for Ann then I suggest you change your tone, he's right this really is a historic invention.” 

“It was also declared illegal to use it. I'm running low on patience old man, nothing personal or anything but I have a wife to save. So can we please get this damn thing built?” 

“Son this is your copy, I don't need one. You just have to take this with you when you go infiltrate Headquarters.” Jason and I stared at each other for a second, mouths agape. We both looked at the old man in shock and disbelief. Headquarters was a fortress in terms of security. Five guards stood watch over just one door to the temporal department alone. I definitely don't have the clearance to just waltz in there and flip on the machine, and the guards have been made aware of my intent to acquire Chronotons and a time machine to make sure they knew who to watch for. I couldn't believe he was asking me to perform a suicide mission for a portal we had the blueprints for. He was asking me to go get shot, I couldn't hold back the rage anymore. 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN INFILTRATE HEADQUARTERS?!?! We have the damn blueprints right here why can't we build it ourselves?!?!?!” I slammed my hands on the desk and made everything on it jump, the old man covered his ears and Jason held me back.

“Because son, if we tried to gather the pieces now it would draw attention, it would be easier to simply break in and use their machine.” The old man sat down and rubbed at his temples, as if I'd given him a headache. 

“It's suicide!!” I pushed back on Jason and he pushed harder. 

“Bryan calm down.” 

“No! I already have to spend weeks gathering materials for god damn portal! Now I have to go get shot, beaten, arrested, interrogated, coerced, have my memory wiped, and my life, whatever rubble remains, blown to bits because this old fucker is lazy!” Jason forced me down into a chair and slapped me a few times. Each time just as hard as the last, the sound bounced off the walls. 

“Get it together Bryan!” He shook me by my shoulders and held me down. “Shits gone sideways, we all know. But you have to keep your cool! Use that training they put you threw and calm down.” I huffed and started to regulate my breathing, in through my nose and out through my mouth. You wouldn't believe how effective that trick is, try it next time you want to rip someone's tongue out or are collapsed and sobbing about your missing wife. 

“Sorry Jason… I didn't mean to go berserk on you… Or you old man, I apologize.” I rubbed at my temples and rested my elbows on my knees.

“My names Deak son, quit calling me old man.” 

“I'll remember that.” I huffed and stood up. “So what makes you think I can get into the temporal department?” Jason backed up a bit and let me walk toward his desk. 

“I have an access code, when I retired Headquarters decided to give me full access to the department whenever I so choose, or when I'm called in for a consultation.” He grabbed a small, silver card from his breast pocket and handed it to me. “That’ll get you past all the security checks and this-” Deak pulled a metallic headband out of his brief case. “This beauty will create a holographic image of my face overtop of your own, tricking the guards, retinal scanners, other engineers, and any council members who happens to be there. Just put it on and press the small button on the side.” He handed it to me and I did just as he asked, I heard a few holographic emitters activate and i was briefly blinded by a flash of light, I could still see but I could tell in the reflection of Jason's desk that I looked like Deak. I marveled at the headband and laughed a little. “What's so funny son?”

“I just wondering something hahaha.” 

“What are you wondering?” He had a quizzical look on his face, as if he was trying to see the reason behind a madman's ramblings.

“I'm wondering why you're helping me. I mean you've given me the blueprints, and a list of the parts necessary to build a full sized portal, you've given me the ability to travel through time, and you've given me the ability to infiltrate the Space Command Headquarters’ Temporal department. I'm just wondering what godly force has persuaded you to be so generous to someone you've never even met.” His look of wonder changed to that of shame, while mine did the opposite and stared at him, with his own face, even more quizzically. “So. Why are you helping me Deak? His gazed dropped to his legs and his hands folded in on themselves.

“Well I… There's… It's complicated alright? Just be grateful-”

“No no I want to know why you're helping me, we’ve never met, you know nothing about me, I know nothing about you, you're just giving away the greatest tools to commit a crime for which the punishment can be as severe as death. So why Deak?” He sat there for a minute and I started to see tears fall from him. No sobbing, no irregular breathing, just tears. Now I was really intrigued. 

“Because son…” He looked up at me, his eyes already swollen and red, tears streaming down his wrinkled face. “You aren't the only one to lose a loved one to Chronotons.” 

“Who'd you lose?” Jason ended his own silence and stepped in. Deak looked at him and his head dropped again.

“My daughter… Ii had to take her to work one day… Her mother was off planet and I couldn't find anyone to watch over her so I took her with me… I figured there wasn't any danger since there was 23 of us there being extremely careful not to screw up… Well… Wwhile I was tinkering with a conduit for a full sized portal… Sshe…” he had to stop himself and take a few deep breaths. “She was playing with her stuffed dog beside me aand she accidentally… tturned it on when she stumbled…” 

“Oh dear god…” Jason had to sit down, I stood there with shaky knees. I knew the pain this man had gone through first hand.

“Tthe portal turned on aand created a momentary vortex… She was… Sshe had fallen right in front of it and was ssucked in when it turned on… Ii heard her scream for me to help her… right before hher image vanished completely into the sswirling blue vortex…” He pressed his hands against his face and didn't hold back his sobs. I came around and turned Jason's chair enough so that I could hug him, however much he let me anyway.

“Hhow old… How old was she Deak?” I let him go and squatted there in front of him.

“Sshe was 8… Just a little girl… Aand that was over 70 years ago…”

“Christ… I'm sorry for your loss Deak…” He composed himself and sat upright, drying his eyes with his hands.

“Oh don't feel bad for me son, sshe’s long gone… And I haven't been able to find a trace of her in recorded history… It was my mistake aand I've learned to live with it… However horrible it may be… So when your friend called me and told me about you and your story I thought about her for the first time in years. I can't allow someone else to have to go through that hell like I have. So that, son, is your reason why I'm helping you.” I had to take it in for a second. This incident with Deak was probably the first time someone had been accidentally thrown through time. The incident with the Prathons left the largest number of humans stranded in time ever. Now the council really had my resentment. 

“Thank you Deak. It means a lot to me.” 

“Oh stop brown nosing kid, go get your wife back.” I smirked at him and stood up, cracking my knuckles. 

“Ann here I come.” I played the scene of finding Ann over and over again in my mind, it really brought some joy to me. I grabbed all the equipment Deak had for me, including clothing that made me look more like him. I cycled the headbands power to be sure it was on. I placed the blueprints and the list of materials in pockets around my uniform underneath so nothing stood out. I thanked Deak one last time and hugged Jason. “Thanks for all the help Jason.”

“You're my best friend Bryan, it's what I'm supposed to do.” He patted me on the back before opening his office door. “See you on the flip side.” I laughed and left his office. 

“Good luck son.” Deak popped his head out just long enough say it, then ducked back inside.

“Thank you!” I smiled and continued out of the shuttle bay, headed towards the pod launch pad. As I approached it I felt myself get nervous, I was about to infiltrate headquarters… and commit a serious crime… Then the nerves fell away when the scene of finding Ann played through my mind again. I smirked and hopped in the pod. “Space Command Headquarters.” The pod activated and took off.


	3. The Crime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Commiting a serious crime... But with a great turnout

In an hour I was at headquarters again, wearing Deak’s face over my own. I cautiously walked into the building and felt my heart quake with doubt. I tried to keep a steady breath and look confident, though on the inside I was panicking. I smiled mildly at the guards as I came to the door leading into the temporal department. I took out the silver card Deak gave me and slid it into a clearly marked slot beside the door. Then another slot above the card reader opened up and scanned my face, Deak said the hologram would trick their security. I almost panicked and ran before the a lot closed and the door opened up. I took a silent gasp and went inside. Feeling lucky already. The door slid shut behind me and I looked around the lab, there were a few scientists tinkering at random tables that were littered with tools, computers, components, safety equipment, you name it. I tried to look as nonchalant as possible while looking around the room for the portal. I caught sight of it when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I jumped and squeaked a little. It turned out to be a scientist I hadn't noticed when I walked in.

“Deak! How's it going?”

“I'm doing fine… My arthritis is acting up though.” The scientist laughed and I chuckled with him to keep the illusion.

“You really should get that fixed.” 

“Age is a priv-”

“Privilege yeah yeah I know, well anyway what are you doing here? Did someone call you?”

“No no I'm just visiting… Actually I wanted to check on the portal.”

“The portal? Sure go ahead, no one will stop you from giving your kid a checkup.” He patted my shoulder. I gave him a little smirk and walked over to the portal, Deak was right. It was about the size of a regular door but man was there a lot of equipment attached to it. I took a deep breath and grabbed a holopad, essentially a transparent ipad with the computing power of a 21st century military computer complex, I logged into the Enterprises computer logs that'd been transmitted to the computer archives there at headquarters. I selected the logs recorded during the assault at Sari and found the records that officer onboard the enterprise told me about. The chronoton records. Now something about chronotons that allow you to travel through time is its quantum signature. Everything that exists has a quantum signature that places it somewhere in time, kind of like a universal version of carbon dating. Now to actually travel backwards in time you have to do a few things, the first is you have to create three sections within a shape that sit no more than an atom apart. These three sections hold three swirling vortexes of chronotons, each with a different quantum signature. The section you enter has chronotons with the same quantum signature as the present day you are in. The second section has chronotons with a modified quantum signature of 0, meaning they're signature is that of the beginning of the universe and for a Planck second you are standing in the Big Bang as its happening, though don't worry it only tickles a little bit. The third and final section has chronotons with a modified quantum signature of the year you want to go to. From there you have a 30 second window to get through the portal or it automatically shuts off. When I checked the chronoton logs I found the quantum signature of the chronotons Ann was hit with, I meticulously plugged in the numbers of the signature. After I did that I set the holopad down and strolled around the room looking for a quantum scanner, that device would be able to detect preprogrammed quantum signatures up to a certain rang. I never learned how that little thing worked but God will I love that thing. I snuck it over to the portal and switched it on. It hummed and the other scientists started to pay attention, I tried to smile their curiosity away but one started to walk over with his hands held in the air. 

“Deak what are you doing?” He was moving very slowly. I didn't say a word and then the portal flashed to life in a burst of blue and white. I smiled and stepped in front of the portal to Ann. “Deak! Your daughter is gone! This won't bring her back!” Id forgotten I was still wearing his face. I pressed the button on the band and Deak's face vanished, leaving mine staring at them. “Who the hell are you?!”

“Tell the council First Lieutenant Bryan Hartley said goodbye.” I turned and jumped into the portal. For a split second all I saw was a blinding white and blue light, then suddenly all I saw was concrete and yellow light. I landed on my chest as I hit the cold floor. I groaned and looked back at the portal Id come from, there was a swirling blue oval about my height floating in the air, and then it collapsed on itself. Then I took the time to realize when I was. The quantum signature corresponded to 2023. I had traveled 584 years into Earth’s past, more than half a millennium. Now we’re at the present, relative to my placement within the space-time continuum. I'm in San Francisco after just having committed a serious crime. I already got out of the building I was dropped in, it was an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. I noticed it was hotter here than I was used to, and the air smelled of chemicals. I coughed while I got used to the horrid air. Being that it was San Francisco I did know my way around, though I did get a lot of nasty looks and comments from locals but I was able to find a store. I went in and found a pair of blue denim and a shirt that I thought fit me nicely. I asked the worker how much money it was for my clothes. 

“Like… 30 bucks man, i don't know im not really feeling all that well so just pay whatever and have them.” I was honestly surprised at him, though I looked through my clothes from the 26th century and found a shard of gold circuitry caught in the cuff of my disguise. I gave it to him and his jaw dropped a little. 

“That's enough I believe.” 

“Yyeah that's enough… Hhave a good day man.” 

“You too, get well soon.” I walked out of the store and grabbed the quantum signature detector, it's about the size of an iPhone so it wasn't completely out of place. I flipped it on and it didn't immediately register anything, then a hit. It was stationary and only a few miles away. I didn't break into a sprint, it could very well just be a piece of her clothing she sold for something more appropriate. I began walking in the direction of the hit. I passed hundreds of people walking, talking on their phones, riding their bikes, drinking coffee, just enjoying their day. It took me a good hour or so to get close to it. It was stationary and inside a McDonald's. I'd seen replicas of this fast food chains restaurants in museums, this would be a real first for me. I walked in just as I had in the museum and scanned the room. I found a seat and when I scanned again the hit was in the booth behind me. I nonchalantly looked over my shoulder and saw a woman wearing the uniform Ann had on when she disappeared, though I did nothing at first. I turned back around and felt dozens of butterflies in my stomach. “Ann?” The woman did nothing. I turned back to the booth behind me. “Ann?” This time the woman turned to me, quizzical. 

“May I help you sir?”

“Uh… Ii was wondering where you got those clothes… They belonged to my wife.” She furrowed her brow and thought about it for a second. 

“I got it at a thrift store down the road a bit. Look.” She pointed out the window in the direction of the thrift store. “The first store on the other side of the road.” 

“Thank you ma'am.” I left the McDonald’s and crossed the street at the nearest light. I walked down the road and stepped into the thrift store the woman directed me to. I turned on the scanner and got more hits. I went to the hits and found pieces of Ann's uniform stocked on the shelves. So she clearly sold what she had for more appropriate clothes. I gathered them in a cart and used more miscellaneous items I had in my disguise to pay for Ann's uniform. 

“Huh weird.” I was confused.

“What's weird ma'am?”

“A woman came in wearing all of those things a few days ago. She seemed pretty shaken up and confused. She wanted to know what year it was. Can you believe that?” She bagged everything up for me. 

“Did she say anything else??” 

“Umm… I think she said something about a man? If he showed up to call her?”

“Call her? She has a cellular phone?” Now I was getting excited.

“I don't know she just gave me a number.” 

“What's the number?” I was ecstatic. 

“Why do you want to know?”

“I'm her husband, I'm the man she was talking about!”

“Oh okay well here you go.” She handed me a small note written in Ann's handwriting. 

“Ma'am thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.” I smiled like a fool. 

“Don't worry about it.” Then I realized I don't have a cellular phone or money for a pay phone.

“Oh one more thing, can I use your phone?”

“Yeah sure.” She reached into her back pocket and handed it to me. It was a Samsung Galaxy S9. It was easy to figure out how to use the ancient device, they are direct ancestors to my tech anyhow. I managed to type in the number Ann had left and pressed the phone to my ear. I listened to the ringing, desperate for her to pick up. After 4 and a half rings there was an answer, no one spoke but I could hear nervous breathing on the other end. 

“Aann?” I heard a heavy exhale and some sobbing mixed with laughter on the other end. 

“Leave the thrift store, take a left out the door and walk a block. There'll be a motel 6. Go to room 13.” Then the phone hung up. I was excited. It had been nearly a month since I saw Ann vanish. Now I was a block from her. I handed the woman her phone. 

“Ma'am… You just brought my wife back to me. Thank you.” I went around her counter and gave her a big hug, tears forming in my eyes.

“Um… You're welcome… hey are you okay?”

“I am now.” I let her go and left the store, bringing most of Ann's uniform with me in the bag. I followed Ann's instruction and hesitated before knocking on Ann's door. There was a short wait before the door creaked open, only an eyeball visible in the crack. “Ann? Is that you?” The door opened enough for me to slip in. I came in and the door shut behind me. Then I got tackled in the back, landing on the bed. I turned over and Ann was bawling into me. I let go and began bawling as well. I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. I kissed her head and we bawled together. She gripped at my shirt tightly. 

“Ii missed you sso much….” She sniffled.

“I missed you too.” I lifted her head by her chin and kissed her. “I haven't seen you for 584 years.” She laughed through her tears and wiped her eyes on my shirt, I smiled and held her as close as I could. 

“You're such a dork.” Every word that came from her mouth was soothing and felt good to hear. 

“I know I am.” She kissed me and I kissed back lovingly. 

“I love you Bryan.”

“I love you too Ann.” We laid there together, having not seen each other for a month. We easily slept in the motel bed. When I woke up it was dark, Ann was still asleep in the bed. I got up and gently pulled the blanket out from underneath her and laid it on her, tucking her in. I quietly searched through the drawers of the bedside table and found some paper and a pen. That's when I began writing. Now I'm all caught up, no more background. From here on this is a story of how Ann and I get home.


End file.
